Team ONYX: Best of Times, Worst of Times
by Storygazer
Summary: Spin-off from Arriving at Daylight. Not all stories can be told in one book. That's why this story will become the lost chronicles of other adventures. Chapter 3: Xavier and Blake continue to struggle as the pressure to stop the criminal gets heavier.
1. Intro

Team ONYX: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

Intro

(**Disclaimer**: Monty Oum and Roosterteeth owns RWBY while everybody else owns whatever I use as reference. I only own the OC's and unofficial story parts.)

A/N: Okay, so here was the story that I mentioned writing about. I'm really sorry for the delay, I wanted to put this out after Chapter 2 of AD, but time was just not kind to me, especially after making the promise of working on my two other stories.

These chapters are too different to be in any of my current stories, which is why I had to make up a new one. More chapters featuring different characters will take place, and they'll all be relevant to the AD story. But in my opinion, it's not necessary to read them to understand it, only the TUS where the descriptions of my OC's are at. I'll leave notes about it, like this:

**Recap: TUS Chapter 1 and 2**

**Timeline: During AD Chapter 2**

* * *

**Many stories have come back and forth, retold to highlight the best moments**

**However, you can never say what the best part is until you know about the worst moments as well**

"Thank you so much for helping us out at the Librarium again, Blake!"

Right as Blake was about to take a bite out of her sesame-soy salmon, she looked up at a smiling Bridgette, the former mayor of the Librarium. Unsure if it was rude to just continue eating or give a response, Blake was saved from this dilemma when someone said in a strict voice, "Bridgette, wait until she's finished with her food. And you've already thanked her more than three times in the food line, why do it again now?"

Bridgette's face fell from hearing this after realizing that she was being inconsiderate. Knowing that Bridgette only meant to express her gratitude again, Blake ate the piece on her fork and smiled at Bridgette.

"You're welcome Bridgette, but it was really nothing. We were all under distressed circumstances at the time; I can't take credit for saying that I did it out of the kindness of my heart."

Orca, the black-haired female sitting beside Bridgette, replied, "I agree. What you did was really to benefit yourself in the end. There's nothing wrong in doing that, but Bridgette here needs to stop incessantly thanking you, even as we eat."

Putting down her spoon, Orca continued, "But…I need to personally thank you for helping Bridgette. Xavier told me how you prevented her untimely death from that huge bomb."

"Alright, can we stop with the 'gratitude' speech? You're both suffocating her with it, and really, it's getting too much for me too."

Everybody turned to see Kaley, the light-blue haired Burnian, swipe away a strand of her hair with one hand while she used the other to raise a piece of celery into her mouth. When Orca and Bridgette became silent from this, Blake thought of one question that has been on her mind.

"So nobody has seen Xavier anywhere in this school? I thought we would have seen him by now."

Kaley, who also had the same thought, replied, "No surprise there. I told him that we could find you if we stuck together, but no. He thought he could just run off by himself and find you while he goes on another 'adventure' without causing trouble. Sounds like a typical moron to me."

As Kaley's same attitude about the mercenary amused her, Blake was about to keep eating when she heard Bridgette reply, "Would anybody have any idea where he is at? As soon as we finish eating, we can go look for him and get the detective squad back together!"

After Bridgette excitedly shot a fist into the air, Orca pulled Bridgette back into her seat and replied, "Oh, we'll see soon enough. By now, he's probably off trying to impress some girl or getting himself into trouble."

* * *

"Please, let me go! Ouch, you're hurting my ears!"

Cardin Winchester and his gang were walking towards the hall when they spotted a girl wearing a plain purple cardigan and brown skirt walking in the same direction as them. After noticing the brown rabbit ears on her head, Cardin decided that he and the gang could have some fun by poking fun of the 'freak' before them.

"Ha ha, so these are real. Hey, Russel, why don't you try it and see if I'm lying?"

Russel yanked hard on the other ear to find that it wasn't coming off. After the Faunus yelped in pain, Russel responded, "Ha, you were right. They're so real that it's creepy. Man, I wonder how many more of these freaks got into this school; would hate to see more of them while we stay here."

"P-please stop, you're hurting me," pleaded the Faunus, but Cardin only yanked the ear and forced the girl's face in front of his.

"And what would that matter? You're just a dirty animal, so treating you like one won't be any-augh!"

Cardin let go of the ear when he felt someone punch him in the gut several times. Looking down, he thought he saw a flash of blue light retract a fist that instantly went away. As he bent over with his sore stomach, he heard punches and grunts sound all around him.

When Cardin looked up, he saw all his entire gang on the floor, barely conscious and moaning from whatever beating that was dealt to them. The most intriguing sight was the purple haired male who was standing between him and the Faunus, as if he was protecting her.

"You hooligans should be ashamed of what you are doing to this lovely lady! No man, especially a gentleman, should ever have to resort to bullying just to express a sick sense of discomfort."

Angry from the beating he and his gang received, Cardin angrily said, "Get lost, you Faunus lover. This has nothing to do with you!"

"Get lost? No can do, for this gentleman always defeats the evil likes of you. This Xavier Excelsior leaves no women and children behind! Okay, maybe some of the men."

After Xavier raised one arm in the air above him in a pose, Cardin said, "Okay, I get that you're a weirdo who's no different than these freaks. You're still going to pay-."

Cardin never got the chance to finish as a blue flash slammed into his head. After the unconscious body fell to the ground, Xavier let his foot drop back down while exclaiming, "TKO, you punk. Have a nice dream in Wonderland."

After making sure that Cardin was down for the count, Xavier turned to the Faunus, who wearily looked back at him. Although he did help her out, he was still a stranger to the Faunus, especially one with a weird ability.

Noticing this fear, Xavier put his hand out and said, "Well, that's not the expression I was looking for. But hey, no need to worry. I'm a friend to most Faunus, especially to the cute ones like you."

Not expecting the complement and the soft tone in his voice, the Faunus nervously shook Xavier's hand. Smiling from the interaction, Xavier asked, "So, can you grace me with your name? I hope my deed has at least bestowed me the honor of knowing who you are."

"Ve-velvet Scarletina," replied the Faunus, who was now slightly embarrassed from hearing Xavier's bold statement. Xavier let out a good natured laugh as he said, "Wonderful, your parents were right to give you such a fitting name, Miss Velvet. Hey, you wouldn't happen to be from-."

"Excuse me young man, but would you care to explain how these four students are on the ground like this?"

Both students turned around to see Goodwitch walking towards them with an angry face. Xavier panicked as he realized that he might have done something against the rules, so he turned to Velvet and said, "Well, time flies when beauty takes the time to even look at a whelp like me. I hope we can hang out later, Miss Velvet!"

Xavier grabbed the cloak around his neck and pulled it up to hide his face. Surrounded by a glowing blue light, Xavier ran off and left behind images that Scarlet and Goodwitch can barely track with their eyes.

"Young man! Where are you going?! You are clearly violating the rules here!" yelled Goodwitch as she raised her weapon and aimed it at Xavier.

* * *

After they were done eating, the Librarium gang and Blake walked back to the ballroom, getting ready to turn in for tomorrow's initiation. During their trip back, Bridgette said, "Orca, is there really a reason to worry if Xavier gets into trouble? I'm sure that he's allowed to go things about his own way every once in a while."

Orca sighed loudly from hearing this naïve comment and replied, "Bridgette, he's here as one of the Librarium's representatives. If he does anything that damages his standing here, then it's going to reflect badly on the city's credibility for sending more students. Does that explain my concern?"

Bridgette's eyes suddenly shot up for just one moment before she smiled and said, "Don't worry, Xavier is way smarter than that. That's how he and Blake were able to solve the crime back in the Librarium at the same time we did."

Kaley raised her eyebrow and asked, "What? Xavier and Blake found that place at that one time? I thought we just happened to meet up with them by luck."

"No, we followed some clues that he found. I still don't understand his method, but it led us around the time when we met you," replied Blake.

"Oh, oh, let me tell the story! Let me tell the story!" said an excited Bridgette, making Blake confused by the reaction while Orca and Kaley groaned, knowing what they're going to be in for.

"A story? What do you mean?"

Excited to see Blake curious about what she meant to say, Bridgette turned to her with sparkling eyes and replied, "I mean let me tell a story about what happened back then. While I tell the story, you can help me fill in the blanks, like talk about how we misunderstood you after we first met."

Bridgette's happy expression dropped from saying this before she continued with, "Which, I am deeply sorry for again. I should have never doubted you, especially when Xavier vouched for your innocence."

Seeing that she was indirectly the cause for Bridgette's depressed state, Blake decided to go along with her activity and reply, "Well, I don't see why we should leave that out of your story telling. You can start and I'll tell my part of the story the best I can."

After cheering up from knowing that she has Blake's cooperation, Bridgette brought both hands to her head as she mumbled some words from her mouth, getting ready to say everything from her memory. Orca sighed as she saw this and looked at Blake while saying "Alright, but prepare yourself Blake. This story is going to take a while to get through."

Blake felt a slight amount of dread from hearing this, thinking that maybe she got herself into something unnecessary. Bridgette's next words only elevated those fears and made her realize that she should have just found another way to cheer up Bridgette.

"As many of you know, we all lived in the wonderful city of the Librarium, where books and knowledge were freely used for all who needs them. But not all was peaceful, for disaster loomed over this city."

"This, my dear friends, is the story of '**The Exploding Books,'** a tale filled with sorrow and hardship that we all had to overcome together. In the middle of…"

* * *

A/N: Bridgette is our lead-off into what is coming in the next chapter.

The Librarium gang and Blake are…not the best of friends, but they can be friendly to each other in a place where nobody really knows the other very well. If that doesn't make sense, then think about what would have happened if Ruby did bring someone she knew who was around her age.

Xavier's and Blake's relationship might as well be a friendship, which is going to be shown in the next few chapters. Who knows, it might turn out to be something more as time goes on.

Also, please PM or review and tell me about your opinion on splitting this story apart from the main one.


	2. Exploding Books Part 1

Exploding Books Part 1: Mercenary Extraordinaire and the Fair Lady

(**Disclaimer**: Monty Oum and Roosterteeth owns RWBY while everybody else owns whatever I use as reference. I only own the OC's and unofficial story parts.)

**Recap: TUS Chapter 1 and 2**

**Timeline: After TUS Chapter 2**

Edit Note: I am really really sorry for not putting in the lines. I'm amazed that some of you tried to read this without getting confused, well, according to what my visitor stat page as shown me. Will try to do a better job next time.

* * *

In the middle of a large grassy plain, a small city with multiple pointed buildings can be seen and surrounded by a huge wall with large turrets dotting the edges. On some parts of the wall, huge X-shaped holes had large construction equipment laid out in front of them, evident that repairs are currently in progress.

Several weeks ago, an unknown group invaded the Librarium and tried to steal various items of value in the district, Chapter 5. Fortunately, the intervention of Xavier Excelsior prevented most of the theft from taking place. He now resides in this city, keeping it safe from further harm alongside his new comrades.

Just when the city was settling down, a new threat plagued the city, once again throwing it into turmoil. As this new threat intensified over time, the people have become restless to the point where they will need Xavier and others to take action once more.

But will that be enough to take on the new evil strong and cunning enough to carry out such attacks? While everybody waits for the answer to this question, a dark figure dashed down a street, running against the wind that made her bow flutter with her long black hair.

* * *

"Dad…Dad? Please… don't leave me. I-I don't know what I'll do without you."

A young Khal looked down as she saw her father lying on top of the bloody snowy ground. Bodies of Beowolves and several broken trees littered the ground around them, evident that a battle has occurred not too long ago.

Khal's father tried to get up as he propped himself on his elbows. Coughing up the blood that was forming in his mouth, he asked, "Did-did you at least…at least get the package?

As Khal tried to stop her tears from forming, she pulled out a silver briefcase that she had right behind her. Opening the box and looking inside, she saw that there was a Frame, a thin metallic armor, set next to two wrist blades that looked compatible with the Frame's lack of hands.

Shocked to see the item, Khal threw the suitcase away in fury, making the contents scatter all over the ground with one of the wrist blades sliding next to her father's body.

Now angry at what her father has done, she yelled, "You told me to leave you alone so I could get some dumb weapon! Why?! Why would you do something like that when…when I just wanted to be with you. Why?!"

As her loud voice slowly became quieter, Khal brought her hands up to her eyes and struggled to wipe the tears that were streaming down her face. When her hands became too wet to help in this endeavor, Khal kept rubbing until she felt her father ran a dry hand run across her face while using the other hand to pick up the wrist blade that fell beside him.

"Don't cry sweetie, I told you that Burnians don't cry when we're stronger than that. Do you remember the other time that we try not to cry?" asked her father, in an unusual strong voice.

"W-we try not to cry whe-when we're fighting at our best," replied Khal as she tried to calm the hiccups that formed in her words.

Smiling to see his daughter remember his lesson, Khal's father struggled to place the locks of her wrist blade on and said, "That's right. And from this point on, you'll need to do the same, just as I did. You need to place…some worth…in your life…as a…Burnian…would…do."

After he clicked the final lock in place, his hand slid off the weapon and started falling towards the ground. Khal quickly picked it up with both of her hands and realized that it was colder than the snow around them.

"I'm…I'm sorry, sweetie. I…guess my time i-is up. Ju-just know that even if I was a terrible dad…I…I love…you."

With that, the eyes on her father's face closed and remained still. Not knowing if he could hear her, Khal replied to his last words in a shaky voice, hoping that they reached him before he was gone forever.

"G-goodbye dad. I love you too...I love you so much. And I'll always keep fighting, no matter what happens…dad…dad" whispered Khal while she tightened her grip on her father's cold hand.

Khal stayed in that same position while hoping that what she saw was just some kind of a sick joke. Even as snow started to fall around her, Khal didn't move a while her mind slowly began to accept what had happened.

When the reality of the situation finally sunk in, Khal reluctantly let go of the ice-cold hand. After standing up, she stored all of the scattered remains of the Frame into the briefcase and carried it with her as she walked back to her shelter.

During her walk back, she tried to stop her tears, wanting to honor the death of her father. After walking a little further, Khal looked back at her father's body as she remembered what her father had told her to do before he died.

"_To place some value in my life as a Burnian should do…yeah, I'll do it dad. I'll live and fight on, just as you did it for our sake."_

It was at that moment that she vowed to keep it as a promise; to live and bear the burden that all Burnians would have to shoulder. It's this same vow that made her life from that point on very difficult; she would never find another person who cared for her until she met Xavier at the Librarium many years later.

* * *

Khal slowly opened her eyes, finally releasing herself from the terrible dream. Looking around, she saw that she was in a beige room that had a small closet and a desk for her studies. Next to her bed, Khal found her workout gear laid out on the floor, arranged in the same fashion that she left it last night.

Sitting up on her bed, Khal adjusted her white tank top and looked at the window in front of her to see the morning sun shining through it. When she raised a hand from under her sheets, she felt relieved after seeing her wrist blade, still attached to the Frame underneath her clothes. She slowly raised the fingers on her other hand and wiped them over the lightning bolt insignia located under the blade.

"_That dream again. I really just want to move on from that, but…I don't know why it keeps coming back."_

Before Khal could think any further, Xavier suddenly burst through the bedroom door with a tray of food in his hands and sang, "Good morning, roommate! I brought you breakfast," in an off-key tone. As Xavier stood there, he saw Khal sitting up with a top and…very, very short pants.

Sweating bullets at the sight, Xavier nervously said, "U-um, I guess I came in too early huh?"

Xavier immediately moved to the side as Khal threw a weight ball at him, which made a crashing noise in the room that it was thrown into. Looking at where it went in shock, Xavier exclaimed, "Aww, my table! How can you do that to my table?! I just bought it with my hard-earned lien the other day!"

Khal replied by reaching for and throwing another weight ball at him while yelling, "LEAVE! NOW!"

After dodging the next throw, Xavier left the tray on the floor before closing the door in a hurry. As Khal got out of bed and started to change her clothes, Xavier said from the other side of the door, "Don't forget, we have that business meeting with the gorgeous caretakers of the city today, so don't take too long…but take your time dressing. Yeah, you should definitely do that."

Khal sighed at the reminder and looked around for her brown suit. After she found it neatly hanged on the closet door, she grabbed the jacket and started to put it on.

"_Still annoying and stupid as ever. When is he ever going to grow up? And now we have this meeting with the mayor and her secretary… Oh no."_

Looking back at the door, she suddenly hoped that Xavier can behave himself around the only people who she considered to be decent in this city.

* * *

"It has been several weeks since our city has been attacked by the intruders and the Grimm. After the heroic intervention of ex-mercenaries, Xavier Cielo and Kaley Amazon, recovery of the WAD has been underway. However, strange explosions and robberies have been occurring throughout Chapter 5 for the past several days, which will be explained by our returning on-the-scene reporter, Mike Blues. Welcome back Mike, glad to see that the Beowolf didn't manage to devour your entire shoulder."

Watching the screen move to a man with bandages over his head and shoulder, Xavier looked away in disgust while he sat on a table outside a small cafe. Looking to his left and right side, he saw Bridgette happily reading a book in her hand and Khal sharpening the blade that was protruding from her wrist. Xavier looked at the front to see Orca, whose neat look and hair bun matched with the deadpanned stare she gave him.

After Orca smoothed out a wrinkle from the top part of her business attire, Xavier decided to begin the meeting by saying, "Sooo, how are you ladies today? All of you are still as gorgeous as ever, which has to be a sign for that our discussion will have involve some wonderful topics."

Looking up from her book, Bridgette smiled and replied, "Yes, today is pretty good. In fact-."

"The only bad news is that we have to come and meet you, no offense to you Kaley. So why don't you explain your progress on finding the criminal and let us be on our way back to the office, hmm?" finished Orca while raising an eyebrow at Xavier.

Khal looked up from her blade to see Xavier put a hand over his heart, feigning as if Orca had stabbed in his heart with her words. Rolling her eyes, Khal tried to ignore Xavier as he said, "By the stars and the moon, how can such a lady of sweet nature only sing such harsh words?! Why, this gentleman would rather…"

Before he could continue, Xavier abruptly stopped and winced as Orca kicked his shin under the table. Khal smiled, glad to be relieved of hearing anything any of Xavier's weird dialogue again. Orca just kept glaring at Xavier as she said, "Please spare me your words. And how many times do I have to tell you? My name is not derived from the legendary instrument of time."

Perking her hears at the word, 'legendary,' Bridgette looked up from her book and excitedly asked, "Legend? If I remember that correctly, it was about a hero who went through different time periods to stop the evil Grand Dork from…"

"Hello everyone, are you ready to make your orders now?"

Taking this opportunity to escape the madness of these random conversations, Orca quickly said to the waiter, "I'll take the green tea. Everybody else, please, decide now!"

Khal tried to not smile in amusement as she moved a strand of her light-blue hair out of her face. Looking at the waiter, she said, "I'll have the brown rice and chicken on a small plate."

"I'll have the same, got to keep in shape to do well in this job." said Xavier as he looked at Bridgette and gave her a friendly wink. Trying not to pay any mind to it, Bridgette said, "I'll have the crimson pie, please add the extra cherries and whipping cream on top."

Nodding at the orders, the waiter left to get the food ready.

"You know Bridgette, if you eat too many sweets, then you'll only end up gaining more than you can lose," said Orca, as she turned to look at Bridgette. Flustered by the random embarrassing comment, Bridgette said in a hushed voice, "Don't say that, it's not something I want these two to know."

As Xavier stifled a laugh from hearing this, he heard someone hawking and glanced over his shoulder to see the waiter spit into Bridgette's pie. Carrying the food to the table, the waiter said, "Here you are, enjoy the meal."

After the food was placed down, Xavier grabbed the waiter's collar and pulled him to the front of his face. Forming an empty smile, Xavier said, "So before you serve this pie to us, why don't you take it back and get a fresh one before I serve you some fruit punch?"

Trying to squirm out of the hold, the waiter said, "Okay, okay, I'll take it back. Just let go already!"

Keeping a tight hold on the collar, Xavier was going to wait several seconds to prove a point when he heard Bridgette say, "Let him go Xavier; I'm sure that I'm the one at fault, so please don't punish him for it."

Right as he heard this, Xavier reluctantly let go, making the waiter quickly get up and go to the back with the spoiled pie in hand.

"Oh, and if the cherries and whip cream are too much work, you can just bring me back the slice," said Bridgette, hoping that the waiter wasn't too hurt from Xavier's grip. Orca groaned as she heard this and said, "Bridgette, you need to stop being so excessively polite. This is why the people keep harassing you, even before you became mayor."

As Bridgette looked down with a sheepish expression, Khal asked, "This isn't the first time? I've never seen this since Xavier and I started to work here."

Rubbing her temples from the stress of thinking about the situation, Orca said, "Well, the people have never been fine with Bridgette as mayor, even if it was a temporary position. However, they never had a reason to show it because it was nothing to really complain about. Well, that is until…"

"Until the bombings started. Egads, it's just dreadful how they're treating our beautiful mayor in such a pitiful manner," finished Xavier, who huffed as he crossed his arms. Bridgette looked at Xavier with concern while fiddling with one of the buttons of her robes.

"Oh, please don't say that. It's actually alright; I should have been doing a better job of keeping the city safe. If only Master Kramer was here…"

"But he isn't. He left a note saying that he was going somewhere several days ago and left you in charge again. Seriously, when is he ever going to be more responsible than this?" said Orca, who instinctively reached for her tonfa strapped in her boot.

Wanting to change the dreary atmosphere of their conversation, Xavier turned to Khal and grinned.

"So Khal, or should I say, Kaley Amazon. Did you enjoy your breakfast this morning?"

As she sipped from the drink in her hand, Kaley replied, "It was alright, but why do you want to know? Are you trying to make me say 'thank you' just so you can crow about it for an entire week again?"

Shaking his head while laughing, Xavier said, "Naw, I'm just trying to make sure you have a good day because guess what? It's your birthday!"

Right as he said this, Bridgette gave Kaley a shocked expression while Orca kept eating her food, seemingly not caring about what she had just heard. Bridgette slammed her hands on the table and said, "It's your birthday?! Oh, you should have told me, we could have ordered you a cake and everything!"

While Xavier talked to the waiter who just arrived to make sure that the pie he brought in was clean, Kaley replied, "I don't like celebrating my birthday; I actually hate it. Besides, Xavier, how did you of all people know that today is my birthday?"

When he finished talking to the waiter, Xavier looked at her with a smile as he ran his hand through his hair. Speaking in a deeper tone, he said, "Kaley, you should know that I'm a 'mercenary extraordinaire' for a good reason. If I can't make good deductions, then how will I be able to do my job well?"

"He probably found out because he looked at your information sheet and made your current alias," said Orca, deliberately doing it to mess with Xavier. She smiled when she saw him slump over and say, "Well, if you say it like that, then it doesn't sound as cool."

As Bridgette patted the depressed mercenary's shoulder, Kaley finished the last of her chicken and replied, "Oh yeah, there was that sheet. It's really not necessary though, we don't need to celebrate my birthday." Khal immediately regretted saying that when she saw a revitalized Xavier raise his head with a smile.

"Of course you're going to have one! In fact, I already have something planned for us. Okay, so the color theme is going to be blue and later on, I'll show you how to use the present I-."

"Stop right there! You don't have the right to remain silent and there will be no lawyer for you, criminal!"

Everybody turned to see saw a woman wearing black and white clothes run down the street, followed by several cops who were running after her. Inside his mind, Xavier saw stars sparkle around the woman's long black hair flowing behind her. When she passed by his table, Xavier thought that he saw her wink at him with a small smile, making him think, _"Be-au-ti-ful, and that's not enough syllables to describe her!"_

In reality, the woman only looked back at the cops with a grimace as she tried to outrun the fifth group chasing her today.

While Xavier stared at the woman in awe, Bridgette was looking at both the woman and Xavier, unsure of what to say about the sight. Before she could ask him about it, Xavier suddenly stood up and said, "I smell an adventure. All of you have a nice day, for I, Xavier Excelsior, am signing off."

Xavier's body let out a blue light and just like that, he disappeared from everyone's sight. While Kaley and Orca sighed from seeing this, Bridgette frantically looked around, hoping to see the mercenary in time.

"Wait, Xavier! Where are you going?"

Bridgette tried to get out of her chair, but she accidentally tripped on the hem of her robe. After she fell to the ground face first, she came back up with a red spot on the cheek she fell on. When she took another step, Kaley reached up with one hand and grabbed Bridgette before she could move any further.

"Just let it go. When he lets out that blue light, then he's already too far for us to catch him."

Bridgette frowned and nodded, understanding the futility of her action. When she tried to turn back to her seat, she heard something tear and looked down to see a rip on the red blouse inside her brown robe. Thinking back on the clothes that the running woman wore, Bridgette turned to Orca and Kaley with an idea forming in her mind.

"Orca, Kaley, I need to go shopping. Can the two of you accompany me for a while?"

* * *

Xavier ran up to the cops, who continued their pursuit down a narrow alleyway. While running behind them, he yelled, "Wait, stop! Hold up, can you guys tell me what's going on?"

One of the cops turned his head and said, "She's a suspect for the recent explosions. We tried to question her, but she ran as soon she saw us. The communications center has been notified and caught her picture from the gate entrance, so she can't run as long as she's in this city!"

When the woman turned around another corner, one of the cops shouted, "Ha! That's a dead end; she's got nowhere to run now!" As the cops filed into the alleyway with Xavier at the back, everybody saw the woman glare at them with her back to the wall and a hand reaching for a sword handle at her back.

"Look, I'm not the one who made those explosions. Right as I came here today, a group of officers tried to handcuff me before I had a chance to explain," said the woman.

Taking out a set of handcuffs, one of the cops said, "Likely story, but you're still coming with us to the office. You can talk all you want over there; maybe that poor excuse of a mayor will even pay you a visit."

Xavier heard what the cop said and yelled, "Hey, that comment about the mayor is uncalled for. And let's hear her out, because there is no way she could have caused the explosions if she just arrived today!"

Ignoring what Xavier said, the cop moved up to cuff the woman. Before he could reach her, the woman suddenly turned around and ran up the wall behind her, leaving everyone at the bottom staring at this feat in amazement. When some of them tried to reach for their guns, Xavier immediately jumped to the front of the crowd and got in the way of their line of sight.

"Excuse me officers, but if you're going to go over my authority to arrest her, then you'll need to take a moment to think on your actions."

Xavier swung one of his feet at a cop's head and knocked him out after slamming him into the wall. While the other cops looked at Xavier in confusion, Xavier ran up to them and raised his body with hands on the floor before spinning with his two legs in the air. When he knocked all of the cops to the floor with his spinning kick, Xavier flipped back on his feet and clapped off the dust on his hands.

"Yep, that's called **Showtime**, folks. Enjoy an encore later if you want some more."

Xavier turned to the wall beside him and planted a foot on it. When he kicked off of the foot to launch himself to the other wall, he kicked off of that wall to reach a higher one. After wall kicking to the top of the building, he saw the mysterious woman run across the rooftops ahead of him.

"Hey, wait up! I just took out the guys who were after you, so there's no need to run anymore!"

When Xavier saw that she didn't stop running, he sighed as he ran after her. During his chase, the mysterious woman looked back at him and suddenly disappeared over the edge of a building, leaving behind an after-image of herself.

Having an idea of where she was going, Xavier jumped off of the building and fell into the open air. During his fall, he reached out for a clothing line and tightly held on as he zip-lined towards another narrow alley. After sliding through a bunch of clothes that got in the way, Xavier reached for one of his guns and popped open the top with his foot.

Letting go of the clothes line, Xavier hurriedly reached into his shirt with his free hand into his jacket and took out a light-blue bullet that he shoved it into the open cylinder. When he whipped the top back into place, Xavier aimed the gun at the ground and pulled the trigger.

A white light shot out and hit the ground, creating a layer of ice that spread into the alley. As Xavier landed and slid down the ice, he tried to maintain a pose, while thinking, "_C'mon, c'mon, I got to make this look right."_

Xavier was finally able to stand straight up and bow his head as he slid near the end of the ice. He kept this pose when his body slid off of the ice and landed in front of the woman that he was chasing earlier.

"Excuse me, but please pardon my co-workers' attitude. Everybody has been tense for several days, but I want you to know that our hospitality is usually better than this."

Before Xavier could continue, he heard the woman ask in a surprisingly calm voice, "Don't you work with them as an Enforcer? Why would you attack your own people like that?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Xavier relaxed his pose and said, "Eh, I didn't like what they did back there, so why have them arrest a beautiful woman like you?"

The woman gave Xavier a look of disgust and walked past him down the street, probably displeased by the way he treated his own people. Panicking from her sudden departure, Xavier tried to think of something that would have her stay.

"Wait, you're considered guilty right? Why don't you let me help you prove your innocence?"

The woman didn't answer and continued to walk farther away. This pushed Xavier to walk after her to keep her in his sight.

"Aw, come on. At least give me a name so I can tell the cops to stop chasing you when I find the real culprit," said Xavier, hoping that he would get a response by then.

The woman's silence proved that she wasn't going to give him an answer any time soon. While she walked away, Xavier sighed and decided that there was only one thing left to do. Placing two fingers over his eyes, Xavier took off something, which made his pupils change color. When he gazed at the woman for several seconds, he placed what he was holding back over his eyes, which changed them back to their blue color.

Kicking a pebble away, Xavier closed his eyes to calm them down while saying, "Alright, then would 'Ms. Faunus' be alright? You seem to be the only one of your kind here, so it should be easy to-urk!"

After feeling the sharp edge of a blade at his neck, Xavier opened his eyes to see the owner glaring at him with her golden eyes. The sharp feeling of her katana made him think, "_Whoa, déjà vu. It's kind of what Khal, I mean Kaley, tried to do to me a couple of weeks ago."_

"How do you know that I'm a Faunus? Are you one of those mercenaries out there looking to take one out for a quick buck? And don't even think about lying to me, the news is always talking about your former occupation!"

Happy to know that he was right, Xavier replied, "The bow is a cute addition, but it can't hide all of the fur from your ears, Ms. Faunus. And don't worry, if I wanted to harm you in any despicable way, then I would have done something like this."

In the next moment, Xavier disappeared in a blue light before reappearing behind the Faunus. When the woman noticed what happened, she jumped away and swung her blade at Xavier. Xavier held up Vergil, his black gun, to intercept the strike and slide down the blade as he walked forward. When the woman struck at him with her sheathe, Xavier raised Dante, his red gun, and managed to stop the incoming weapon.

When the woman saw that her strikes were evenly matched, she jumped back before shooting herself forward with an after-image forming behind her. Xavier immediately dodged to the right to avoid it, only to do it again when the woman came back after shooting from another after-image.

Soon, Xavier's body started to glow in a blue light as he rapidly fended off the multiple blade strikes coming from whichever of the after-images came after him.

"_Wow, this is insane! It looks as if an army of clones is laying siege on a freaking castle…can't believe I'm fighting a woman again." _

Knowing that he had to end this fight, Xavier kept his eye out for the real one and waited for the right time to strike. When he saw a different looking one getting ready to make a turn, Xavier dashed forward in a burst of blue light and managed to catch up to the woman before she could continue her assault.

Slamming and holding both of his weapons in a deadlock against the woman's own, Xavier nervously said, "P-Please calm down, there's nothing to worry about. The guns that I'm holding can only discharge bullets non-lethal to humans, see?"

Xavier aimed Dante down and shot an Aura bullet right into his knee. One second later, Xavier grabbed his knee in agony as the pain spread all over his leg's nerves. Trying not to shout from the pain, Xavier said, "S-see? Hurts a ton, but totally non-lethal."

The woman widened her eyes in surprise as she saw the mercenary before her place himself in such a vulnerable position . Realizing that he's not the same mercenaries that she met before, the woman lowered her weapons and tried to calm herself from her heightened nerves.

"Are you alright? Does it really hurt that much?" asked the woman, now a little concerned for his well-being. Xavier, trying not to look too weak, gritted his teeth and declared in a strong voice, "It's no problem Miss Faunus. An attack like this can't take down the great Xavier Excelsior, mercenary extraordinaire at your service."

Xavier bowed his head as he tried not to put too much pressure on his injured leg. When he got back up, he saw that the Faunus had her weapons put away and looked at him, as if waiting for him to say something. Knowing that he finally got her attention, Xavier said, "So, with introductions out of the way, you can certainly use my help in this matter. I already have a lead on the real perpetrator, Ms. Faunus, so-."

"It's Blake."

"Excuse me?" asked Xavier, who couldn't hear through his rambling.

"It's Blake Belladonna. It's nice to meet you Xavier."

Xavier's face beamed as he was happy to hear a positive response from the woman. Putting his guns away, Xavier replied, "Oh, the pleasure is all mine, Miss Blake. And it's fitting how you have a name that fits your look, fair lady of the night."

Unsure if she should thank him for that, Blake decided to move to a different topic and asked, "If you can help me, then do you have a plan? Since the whole city is after me, revealing the real criminal is all I can do if I'm ever going to get out of this place in one piece."

"I actually do have a plan," replied Xavier, "but we can't stay here to talk about it. We should make a quick exit before anybody else tries to arrest us on these accessible streets."

Nodding in agreement, Blake jumped away with Xavier up into the buildings and was out of sight before anybody around could have seen where they went.

* * *

Orca and Kaley came out of a clothing store, followed by Bridgette who was carrying a bag of clothes on her arm. Bridgette was in such a good mood from buying something with her friends' input that she hummed a light tone and gave a small spring to each step that she took.

Kaley smiled as she saw this, happy to see her gentle friend in a good mood. Beside her, Orca was looking at the screen of her phone, talking to the person on the other end of the line. When she turned off the phone, Orca turned and gave an expression that made Bridgette stop her humming.

"The communications center hasn't received any reports on Xavier's whereabouts. I'm sorry Bridgette, but we'll just have to wait until he gives us a call. It doesn't help how someone like him knows how to cover his signal, even after I tagged his phone with a transmitter that one time."

Bridgette fumed at the thought of Xavier running off again and angrily said, "I know that he likes to have adventures, but why couldn't he at least tell me before he left? It's always hard to keep up with him."

Interested in what Bridgette just said, Orca asked, "He has all of our contacts, so why is it important that he only tells you rather than us?"

Bridgette stammered from this sudden accusation, while Kaley turned around in surprise, knowing where Orca was going with this question. Meanwhile, Orca gave a loud sigh as she said, "Just as I feared, it's true isn't it?"

"W-what is true? There's nothing to reveal so…"

"Love isn't correct, but captivated is the word I'm looking for, right Bridgette?"

This statement made Bridgette stop speaking before a large blush started to form on her face. Trying not to give anymore telltale signs of her feelings, she said, "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about. Isn't it the mayor's job to make sure that everybody in the Librarium is safe?"

Orca didn't buy it and continued with, "He's your Prince Charming, isn't he? That's the book you were reading before, and the small looks you gave him after reading several pages makes the fact way too obvious."

Bridgette's entire face was a bright vermillion by this time, which she tried to hide with her hands. Orca could only shake her head as she finally confirmed her friend's feelings for the annoying mercenary. Turning to Kaley, who tried not to laugh from this revelation, Orca asked, "You're not uncomfortable with this talk, are you Kaley?"

Kaley's struggling smile immediately disappeared, and was later replaced by a frown. Feeling disturbed by the question, she begrudgingly said "No, I could care less for who likes him. In fact, I'm going to make sure that he doesn't break anybody's heart, especially Bridgette's." After saying the last comment, Kaley closed her fist and the sound of her knuckles cracking could be heard.

"Is that kind of like being the responsible older sister?" asked Bridgette, while hoping that she could change the subject of her one-sided crush. It might have worked since the question made Kaley slightly cringe from hearing it.

"Please don't say that; having any relation with that man would make every fiber of my being feel uneasy. I'll admit that he is a nice person, but his dialogue, his need for attention, and that huge amount of devotion he gives to women is…nothing I want to relate myself to."

When the trio walked around the corner, they looked up and saw the entrance into the tower where the mayor of the Librarium resides at. The only strange part of this sight was the dark red package standing against the wall next to the door.

"Bridgette, you should step back. That package might be a bomb, so I'll check it by getting a shot at it," said Orca, as she took out a tonfa and aimed the barrel at her target. Before she could pull the trigger, Kaley motioned her to stop before taking several steps forward towards the package.

"Orca, I don't know if you can see what I see, but there's a tag that has my name on it."

Orca squinted and saw a small tag sticking out of the side of the package. When she came closer, she saw that Kaley was right as a name written in very small handwriting came into view. Looking at Kaley who was examining the package, Orca felt very surprised to know that Kaley's eyesight might be a little extraordinary than the norm.

As Kaley bent down to read the other side of the tag, she found a note that read, "Happy Birthday, Khal. You're a tough woman to be around, so here's a present to make you even tougher." An 'XE' was signed at the bottom, making Kaley realize that it was from Xavier.

"_Happy Birthday…. Xavier, I don't know if I'll even want something to celebrate my-."_

Kaley was abruptly interrupted by Bridgette, who suddenly came from behind and reached over to rip through the package's wrapping. She did it with such frenzy that Kaley had no choice but to step away to avoid getting mauled by the wild hands. When the wrapping was all gone and only a white cylindrical box was left, Kaley saw a strange swirl in Bridgette's eyes accompanied by a red face and heavy breaths.

Orca saw this, came over, and patted Bridgette's back while saying, "Easy Bridgette, it's just a package; there's no need to give in to your obsession for the color."

When Bridgette finally calmed down, she sheepishly looked at Orca and said, "Sorry, I don't know why this keeps happening to me. I always see red, but it's just these strange episodes where I-."

Although Kaley was concerned for Bridgette's condition, she decided to avoid getting involved with it and looked down at the white box. Taking the lid off of the top, Kaley reached in and pulled out a gray metallic contraption with the same cylindrical shape. Amazed by the sight, Kaley took care not to grab the pointed spike at the top as she ran a hand down the smooth surface.

Kaley heard Bridgette gasp when she turned around with the object in her arms, and heard her say, "I-is that a pile bunker? What is a dangerous weapon like that doing here?"

"_Pile bunker? Wait, isn't that a weapon that robots use?"_

When she looked at the flat bottom of the weapon, she found something that made her realize that this weapon is compatible with her.

"_Burn's lightning symbol? Xavier got a weapon that was exported from Burn? If that's the case, then maybe…"_

Kaley hefted the weapon's strap over her shoulder and felt it suddenly attach itself firmly on her back, where a part of her Frame was at. She activated the weapon with the flick of her thumb and felt it flip from the back and onto her arm. The moment it landed, the weapon magnetized itself to the frame beneath her clothing.

Swinging the weapon to test how it feels, Kaley felt amazed by how smooth she was able to move it, despite its weight.

"That looks impressive. If I wanted a present like that, all grandfather would do is buy me the same tonfas rather than let me get the upgrades I needed," said Orca, slightly envious to see the weapon.

Khal examined the weapon one last time before deactivating it, making it flip back behind her shoulder again.

"_Dang, now I'll have to thank Xavier later. Something this powerful and rare… it must have been pretty expensive. And to help me stay tough, huh? That annoying moron."_

Despite her thought on the mercenary, Kaley fondly smiled, genuinely happy to receive a gift that she can value for its origin and use.

"_Stay tough…that sounds awfully familiar. It's probably what dad would tell me to do."_

Kaley suddenly heard a light gasp come from Orca and turned to see that she was on the phone. After ending her call, Orca turned to Bridgette and Kaley with a grim expression showing on her face.

"We found a suspect for the explosions, but she got away from the police. And this might not be what you want to hear, but…she was seen working with Xavier."

Khal and Bridgette looked at Orca in surprise, hardly believing what they just heard.

"What?! He's working with who?!"

* * *

After several minutes of running, Blake and Xavier decided that they needed to rest before they continued onto their destination. From one rooftop to another, they eventually found one that was conveniently too high for anybody to see the top and landed there.

Xavier swung his feet over the edge of the rooftop that he was sitting on while Blake stood up beside him, taking in the sight of the unfamiliar city. After several minutes of silence, Xavier asked, "So, Miss Blake, what brings you to the Librarium? Are you here to sightsee or was your journey from one city to another too exhausting for you?"

Looking down at Xavier, Blake replied, "I heard that this place had some books that I'm interested in. I thought I could stop by and take a look, but I seemed to have come at a bad time. Even worse, the people now think that I'm the cause of all this mess, even if this is my first time coming here."

Feeling bad for what Blake had to go through, Xavier turned to face her and reply, "Oh, so you're just like the Lone Wolf in this case. I understand, it's never easy being in this situation, but you can't really blame a bunch of people who can't think because of their prolonged fear."

Blake let out an amused smile from hearing Xavier's reference to the anti-hero of a famous book. Pulling a strand of hair away from her face, Blake asked, "Wouldn't I be more like Fa Xuhuan? She has a similar story and unlike the Lone Wolf, she's a woman."

Xavier laughed as he heard the reference to a foreign epic tale and replied, "True, true, that is an excellent analysis, Miss Blake. Now that you mention it, I need to re-read that tale for fun."

Silence came between the two acquaintances and Xavier realized that there wasn't much else that he knew about this mysterious woman. Wanting to know more about her, he decided to go with the question that has been bothering him for a while.

"I'm more curious than angry, but do you mind telling me why you had a blade to my throat? I was happy to not have another one there until now."

Blake was surprised to hear that she was not the first person to do this to him and replied, "I'm sorry. Several days ago, I met some people who were hunting Faunus for money. After they somehow knew that I was a Faunus, they gave chase; it took me several days to lose them before I came here. I was…nervous, and having to now run from the law doesn't help me trust a lot of people."

Frowning from hearing this, Xavier said, "Goodness, from one bad event to another. Well, it's official. There's no way a beautiful woman like you can ever do something as crazy as blow up parts of the city. And you seem pretty nice, so uh, yeah, no way it's you."

Blake smiled from hearing Xavier's opinion and was about to thank him when a loud explosion went off in the distance. Looking up, Blake saw smoke rise in the air followed by sirens that headed to that location.

"So what exactly is the plan? You haven't told me where we're going to catch the criminal."

"Fear not, Miss Blake. My plan is pretty simple. We shall investigate a particular knowledge center that was bombed and looted, and get our evidence from there."

Standing up and pointing to their destination, Xavier smiled as he continued, "Once we identify our criminal, we will chase him, tie him up, and dump him in a proper prison. Once you're dropped of all accusations, then I'll introduce you to my friends and we'll go out searching for some of those books that you seek, how does that sound?"

Blake felt surprised from hearing this as she didn't expect him to have such a simple plan. However, the last part of Xavier's statement made her feel uncomfortable about one recurring issue.

"Why would you be willing to go so far for me after knowing who I am? From what I know, this city doesn't have much support for the Faunus; I even passed a building that had holding cages for any 'wild' Faunus that appears in the city."

Mentioning the cages had Blake unconsciously grip her crossed arms even harder. Xavier saw this and hoped that his next answer won't distance herself from him any further than it is.

"I don't really care much for what people look like. Whether it be Faunus or people without animal-like features, we're all just humans in the end, aren't we?"

Without saying a word, Blake was shocked to hear this. And for the better or worse, she realized that she couldn't expect to see Xavier in the same light as those who mistreated her because of her Faunus heritage.

Noticing her stare, Xavier asked, "What? Is that not agreeable? If not, then please don't mention that you're from a cult. I prefer to try and not rile people like that again."

Although she was confused from hearing this, Blake replied, "No, I'm not from a cult. It's just, not a lot of people seem to have that impression and most of that seems to come from our side rather than the other. So I rarely hear it come from someone who's not a Faunus."

Xavier shook his head and laughed as he said, "Miss Blake, let me tell you something that this mercenary extraordinaire learned."

"I thought that was a former occupation?"

"Details, but anyways, I learned that people are defined by many things in life. However, their good and evil should be defined by their actions, not by the appearance that they were born with."

Pointing at Blake's bow, he continued, "You seem strong, beautiful, and look great in black, which again, fits the meaning of your wonderful name. And-er, actually, can you take that bow off for a minute? I'm curious to see the part that makes you a Faunus."

Blake placed a hand on her bow to make sure that Xavier doesn't try anything funny. After her hand was in place, she asked, "How do I know that you won't change your mind about me for the worst?"

Xavier chuckled from hearing this and replied, "Am I really that untrustworthy? If you still don't believe me, then isn't it better to see my reaction now rather than later as we continue to work together?"

What Xavier said only covered one out of many other possibilities that Blake could think of. But strangely, after getting to know him, she decided that it might as well be a risk that she needs to take.

Slowly, Blake took off her bow and unveiled two, black cat ears that came into view. Xavier's eyes widened as he saw this while slowly saying, "Those ears, they look…they look dangerous…"

Blake felt that her fears were about to come true and steeled herself for anything bad that Xavier might have to say about her ears. Right when Blake was prepared to be called a monster…

"So dangerously adorable!"

…she didn't expect to hear that. In fact, it was so off that she was flabbergasted, but managed to mask it by only raising one eyebrow. During her shocked mental state, Blake didn't pay attention to Xavier as he reached a hand over behind her ears and lightly scratch it.

"Wh-what are you doing?! You shouldn't just touch my ears like that!"

Blake pulled her head down to get away from Xavier's hand, which pulled back as Xavier was confused by Blake's reaction.

"Aww, the last Faunus I met liked having her ear scratched on that spot. Sorry, I thought the same would go for you, but it seems not every Faunus has the same preference."

During his explanation, Xavier didn't hear the small purr that rumbled in Blake's throat. Trying to forget the ecstatic feeling made by Xavier's hand, Blake placed her bow back over her ears.

"Well, thanks for taking that well. I honestly thought you would have a different reaction, but you were right. People do better define themselves when they show it."

Flashing her a smile, Xavier said, "Well, I try to make most of my words mean something. But enough dilly-dallying; there are people after us and we're on an adventure to solve this case. Let's move out!"

After making a motion with his hand, Xavier dashed off with Blake following right behind him.

* * *

"Bridgette, move it! Can't you see what's in front of you?!"

Bridgette tried to move away from the incoming thug, but she accidentally tripped over her robe again. Trying to reach for her staff in its compact globe form, Bridgette couldn't bring it up in time to stop the thug that was about to trample over her.

Orca immediately jumped in front of Bridgette and slammed her tonfa into the thug's head. As the thug's body fell to the ground, another one came from the side and tried to slam his fist into Orca's head.

Orca advanced from her position and moved to the side to narrowly avoid the punch. Right as she spun her body in a full circle, she used the momentum to slam her tonfa into the thug's head, knocking him out. Placing both barrels of her tonfas behind her, Orca pulled both triggers and blasted herself towards the group of more enemies arriving from the recent prison outbreak.

While Orca handled the group in the front, Kaley was also taking action nearby, slamming her palms and fists into every other thug that tried to make their escape in a different direction. Bodies fell to the ground unconscious, and soon, Kaley was down to her last target, which was a large muscular man wielding a giant metal bar as his weapon.

"A woman managed to beat all of you losers? Pathetic, might as well let a real man handle this."

The giant thug swung his weapon at Kaley, who dodged by jumping high into the air. Right as Kaley came back down, she saw that the weapon crashed into the nearby wall of a building, creating a huge hole in it. Understanding the danger of the thug's strength, Kaley dodged another blow and waited her chance to make her counter-attack.

"_It's a shame too; I could have used my full power to end this quickly. But that's what happens when I'm working as Bridgette's Enforcer."_

When the thug raised the weapon high into the air, Kaley took the opportunity to run forward and land an elbow strike into the thug. As the thug's body bent from the pain, Kaley landed a punch and another elbow into his stomach before delivering a palm strike up into the man's chin.

The giant thug's body shook from the blows before it ended on falling to its knees. Seeing that she incapacitated her target, Kaley turned to head over to where Orca is at to help her finish her own fight. However, the thug behind her used the last of his strength to throw his weapon at Kaley before he fell unconscious.

Kaley already expected something like this to happen, which is why she was already out of weapon's pathway during her walk. Unfortunately, Kaley just noticed that Bridgette was in the way and cursed at her mistake of not seeing it.

"Bridgette?! Bridgette, what are you doing?! Move!"

When Bridgette heard this, she turned to where Kaley's voice was coming from and froze as she saw the weapon flying towards her position. Seeing that Bridgette won't be able to move in time, Kaley ran as her body started to be covered in her red Aura.

Kaley slammed her foot into the ground and propelled forward to where Bridgette was at. Leaving behind the hole that she made in the ground, Kaley managed to speed past the thrown weapon and land herself right in front of Bridgette.

Without a second thought, Kaley placed both wrist blades to her side and channeled her Aura through them. Raising both Aura blades in front of her, Kaley slashed them through the approaching metal bar and watched it get sliced into several pieces.

While Kaley flung her Aura-powered arms to fling away two of the pieces, the rest harmlessly passed by her and rolled into the ground and past Bridgette. Seeing that the danger has now passed, Bridgette looked up at Kaley and managed to say, "Thank you," in a shaky voice.

Kaley bent a knee down and asked, "Are you okay? Did you manage to get hurt?"

Bridgette slowly shook her head as she tried to shake off the fear of the earlier event. Smiling from seeing that her friend was alright, Kaley turned to see Orca still fighting against a group of thugs that had her surrounded.

Even if she was surrounded, Orca made smooth spinning motions that managed to dodge every blow thrown at her. During her motions, Orca spun the handles of her tonfas and slammed the barrels into each thug that had the misfortune of getting into range.

_"It's strange; even if I taught myself how to fight, I never tried to take part in the violent act itself. It was always for Bridgette's sake. Yet, when I fight, I feel as if…as if…"_

Orca stepped to the side and saw that a thug ran past her, only to slam his head into a nearby wall. When Orca prepared for another assault, she realized that none of the thugs attacking her were left standing.

_"…as if I can hear where they're coming from; I had one or two fights, but even I know that my fighting ability shows more experience than that. Is this…would it be related to my…"_

"Great job Orca; that was an excellent style of fighting that you displayed."

Orca turned to see Kaley standing behind her. Putting her tonfas away, Orca decided that she can think about it later and replied, "Thank you, I try my best to make sure that Mayor Vermillion is safe, Enforcer Kaley. I appreciate that you express the same commitment as well."

Kaley nodded her head as she understood that Orca's need to say honorifics meant that they're no longer able to remain casual in their situation. This probably happened after they received a distress call from earlier asking for help with containing a prison outbreak caused by an explosion. The same kind of explosion that has been terrorizing the entire city.

"Look Mayor, we appreciate the help, but we don't want anything more from you and your staff. Just move along, and we'll handle things from here."

Kaley and Orca turned to see that Bridgette has finished talking to an annoyed guard who was probably from the prison. Walking back towards them with a sad smile, Bridgette said, "Well, I guess that's it. Thank you both for your efforts and…I'm sorry that I couldn't be more useful; I'm…really ashamed of how useless I was in battle."

Orca and Kaley looked at each other with concerned expressions as they realized that Bridgette's self-confidence was going down…again. Usually, Xavier was the one who cheered her up, which is why the two girls actually missed him for once, seeing that now was a good time for him to be here.

Trying to think on what Xavier would do, Kaley said, "Um, Mayor. It's…alright, I mean, you're still getting used to battle, unlike we of the experienced and fighting types…yeah."

Scratching the back of her head as she said this, Kaley's discomfort from trying to copy Xavier's speaking style left her words in a fumble. Orca saw this and knew that she had to step in with a different tactic to change the mood of the situation.

"Mayor, I believe that you managed to procure some of documents from the office. They're comprised of the reports that you and I have made, along with the investigations carried out by Xavier and Kaley. If we want to share this with the city's authorities, then we should do this as soon as possible."

After hearing Orca say this, Bridgette turned around and lowered her head. Not being able to see her facial expressions, Orca and Kaley became worried that Bridgette might be declining into a worse behavior.

These thoughts, however, vanished when they saw Bridgette turn back around with a determined look on her face. Taking a scroll out from her robe, Bridgette said, "No, we can't relay this information to anybody else. The current amount of disorder in this city is already draining our need to keep things in order from our security, so adding this to that burden will only make things worse."

Not expecting Bridgette to sound so calm and orderly, Orca and Kaley continued to listen to Bridgette as she continued with, "As mayor of this city, I have no choice but to now exercise my power through Sector V, Article 13, and Section 100 of the Librarium's rulebook."

"Secretary Kramer and Enforcer Amazon, as mayor of this city, I am now forming the Librarium detective squad. We will find this criminal through our own means and bring him to justice ourselves. Let's go!"

While Bridgette walked off towards an unknown location, Kaley and Orca followed, while still shocked from hearing this sudden command. While they were happy to hear Bridgette move forward with such strength, one part of her earlier statement made the entire situation seem kind of underwhelming.

"Detective squad? Doesn't that sound a little immature for a group who is going on a serious mission?"

* * *

"No, no Orca. That's not how it's supposed to sound! It's supposed to be one of the highlights of the story!"

Orca huffed as she interrupted Bridgette's recount of that part of the story while she continued to use her brush through her to stroke through her long black hair. By this time, everybody has already changed into their sleeping clothes and gathered their sleeping bags nearby each other to continue listening to the ongoing story.

"Everything that you said up to that point is true, except for the part where you made it sound 'cool.' Sure, you may have grown a larger backbone at the time, but when you gave our group such a name, well…we did have an argument about it."

Bridgette sighed as she heard this, hoping that she wouldn't have to go into that part of the story. During this time, Kaley was on her own sleeping bag sharpening her wrist blades while Blake was sitting nearby, listening intently to Bridgette's story.

Realizing that it was Blake's turn to tell her part of the story, Bridgette said, "Blake, I think this is where you go next. I'm kind of curious to see how you and Xavier…spent some quality time together."

Orca and Kaley raised their head at Bridgette's pause, understanding that they're probably reaching Bridgette's least favorite part of the story. Blake didn't seem to notice as she nodded and replied, "Alright, I guess I can go next. If I remember correctly, that might have been the time when Xavier and I have finished inspecting the knowledge center that he couldn't inspect with Kaley."

"After he somehow got a location, that's when we decided to do our stakeout. But…it wasn't in a place that I was expecting to be at."

* * *

A/N:

I despise how I try to write right after finals are done. So tired, but also excited to see this finished.

I estimate that there will be two more chapters before this arc ends, so please bear with me for a lot of action is still on the way.

Please review and PM on this story when you have time; try not to cause any flames that can burn and be honest.


	3. Exploding Books Part 2

Exploding Books Part 2: The Fuse is Lit…

A/N: Whew, just got back for college and now, I actually feel motivated to do this faster, probably because staying in classes nearly all day is boring. Want some spark back in my life with writing.

So those of you actually keeping up with the story, I apologize for being gone for more than a month. I was working on my other story, Halcyon Holidays, and will work on it again next week. If you like sappy moments where mostly the main characters interact with each other, then check it out. Oh, and there's some fight scenes in the latest chapters featuring Sun and Team JNPR.

Reminder: This is a companion story to AD and TUS. Again, recap and timeline chapters will be at the end of the A/N notes.

Enough digression, here is the chapter. Enjoy.

**Recap: TUS Chapter 1 and 2 **

**Timeline: During AD Chapter 2 and after TUS Chapter 2**

* * *

"Okay, from my deductions, I say that the criminal will strike around this area soon. Well, I'm 90% sure, but it's a sure thing out of other possibilities," said Xavier as Blake cautiouly looked around her surroundings.

"I believe you, but do we need to have a stakeout in a place like this? It doesn't seem appropriate for what we're trying to do."

Looking around, Xavier saw that Blake was been referring to the room filled with people and tables attended by the waiters. Sitting at a nice table themselves, Xavier also noted that the decorations on the walls and tables did contradict with the mood of their situation.

"_Well, that's the point of me taking you here; a gentleman should know how to create some peace in a bad situation, and getting a bite to eat is really all I could think of. Ever the vigilant warrior, are you not Miss Blake?"_

Humored by the thought, Xavier took a sip out his cup. Even after he already assured her that he jammed the connection to the communications center, Blake still seemed to be tense as she made several glances at other people.

"Try to relax, Miss Blake. I chose this spot because rather than wait in some dark and dank hiding spot, we can find as much cover here and enjoy ourselves at the same time. The food is all on me as well, so take this opportunity to relax and eat. Who knows when we'll be able to do this again if we have to go off and chase after the criminal."

Although still cautious, Blake sighed as she took her glass of water to drink its contents. She knew that it was still inappropriate to ever feel relaxed in a situation like this. However, Xavier did have a point; Blake was starving and maybe having a quick bite could help ease both the hunger and tension.

While waiting for the food to arrive, Blake asked, "So, you've mentioned that there were others working with you. Are they involved with the well-being of this city?"

Nodding his head, Xavier replied, "My partner-in-crime and I are working together with the lovely mayor of this city and her strict, yet wonderful, secretary. They're really nice folks you know; Kaley's Burnian heritage didn't seem to bother them that much, so I'm sure you can get along with them as well."

Xavier's comment surprised Blake as she wasn't aware that there was a Burnian living in a city like this. The news also made her think that the mayor and the secretary seemed nice, yet it seemed too nice for Blake to consider it comforting news.

"We were supposed to be working together, but after you arrived, I had to make some changes to the plan. My personal beliefs required me to escort and see to it that you are freed of this terrible situation."

Blake didn't know if she could should take offense to that or be grateful for it. Either way, it brought a concern about something that Xavier mentioned earlier.

"If you're going to Beacon, then isn't that belief going to get you in trouble? Most female Huntresses might take offense to that."

Shaking his head, Xavier replied, "Naw, it can't be that bad; people enjoy getting rescued by a gentleman like me…I think. Besides, I might not even go to Beacon. In fact, let's just say that it's more of a sure thing."

Blake felt shocked as she heard this, never imagining that any young combat trainee would turn down this opportunity. Now curious, Blake asked, "I don't really understand; you told me that you received a recommendation letter and funding to go to the school. What could make you want to decline it?"

Expecting this question, Xavier took another sip from his water as he prepared his answer.

"The world is full of mysteries, Miss Blake. I feel that I can travel the world and see everything that it has to offer rather than stay cramped in a school of all places. Vacuo, Atlas, and even the rumored Avalon are all sights that I have yet to enjoy."

"Sadly, this means that my time here in the Librarium is short. That time would be used to make sure that Kaley's future and the city's safety is secured before I take my leave. So-."

Before Xavier continued speaking, a waiter came over and dropped off Xavier and Blake's orders in front of them. While Xavier thanked the waiter and dug into his spaghetti, Blake decided she could wait and slowly took a bite of her seasoned flounder.

After several seconds of eating, Xavier wiped his mouth with a napkin and said, "Excuse me for that. I was starving for some reason, even if I already had lunch today. Do you mind if I continue?" Seeing Blake nod her head as she continued to eat made Xavier smile as he asked his question.

"So enough about me, let's talk about your plans, Miss Blake. What are you going to do? Would you be interested in having a companion accompany you on your journeys? And no worries, my services can be free of charge, since traveling beside a beautiful woman will be more gracious than I can ever ask for from lien."

Blake just finished her flounder and was wiping her mouth of any residue that might be on it. Putting the napkin down, she was actually considering his offer but realized a little later that she couldn't accept it.

"Well, you don't seem that bad of a person Xavier, but I don't think we can travel together because I'm going to Beacon to become a student. I don't think you'll want to go there if you plan to travel off of Vytal."

Xavier's grin disappeared as he felt disappointed from hearing this. Trying to recover, Xavier replied, "O-oh well, no matter. I would be happy to accompany you to the doors of your destination. Traveling in these strange lands with another ally is better than doing so alone, correct?"

Blake pondered more on Xavier's question and decided that he was right. Ever since she left the White Fang, most of the oppression that she faced has been nothing but difficult. And she felt that having someone who knew a delicate detail about her would make a good traveling companion.

"Alright, then you and I can talk about it after we resolve this situation. Since Beacon doesn't open its doors to new students until later, I might just stay here until we both tie all of our loose ends."

Excited from hearing this, Xavier let out a big smile as he exclaimed, "Stupendous! As my chapter ends here, you have just given an inspiration to go on a new one! Truly with you as my muse, I feel that our short time together will form unforgettable tales for me and my future listeners!"

Blake couldn't help but smirk at the sight of the happy mercenary. It seemed like his smile is becoming contagious for her, which was welcome since it helped ease her earlier tension.

However, Blake knew that she and Xavier had to continue looking into their investigation if they were to get out of their current situation.

"So Xavier, did you anything find at the ruins of that knowledge center? I hope you found something, because there was nothing from my end."

Calming down from his excitement, Xavier replied, "I used some means to identify what was in the rubble. It's the usual too, because instead of finding traces of a bomb, I found traces of Aura instead."

Intrigued to hear about this finding, Blake asked, "Did you really find Aura? In most cases, they would usually disappear right after a person uses it, right?"

Xavier realized that Blake was asking for more than he wanted to say, which made him nervously reply, "Er, I mean, it's an educated guess cause you would find the remains of a bomb after it was used, right? Anyways, that's not important. What's important is that the lack of a trail doesn't really help bring up much other deductions."

Feeling concerned from hearing this, Blake asked, "Well, is there anything else that you found before this? Anything that we could use to give us a better lead?"

Putting one hand under his chin, Xavier pondered on other things until he remembered something else.

"One thing I do know is that the bomber likes the color red for some reason. It's weird, but most of the materials that he has stolen so far are related to that. Must be the impulsive kind of guy, which actually doesn't help us so far in this case."

"So wouldn't he just target other knowledge centers that have lots of valuable items in that color?"

Slurping up his last noodle, Xavier replied, "We tried that theory, but there's too many places to consider that and we're running out of time. So there has to be a clue or pattern that can help narrow it down. Maybe if we had one more place…"

A loud explosion went off in the distance, which made everybody turn to see a large plume of smoke drift into the air. As Xavier watched this, he said, "Okay, I didn't expect the next target to be that far off. I guess this is when-."

"Xavier, let's go or we're going to miss our chance!"

Xavier looked at the entrance and saw Blake just exit the building. Slamming down some lien onto the table, Xavier jumped from his seat towards the doorway and followed her. As he tried to keep up with the Faunus, he yelled out, "A little off on the location, but we should be able to make it. By the time we're there, that criminal will…"

* * *

"…be gone. This is starting to get annoying; I never had to chase a target who likes to run away so much."

By the time Xavier and Blake got to the site, they realized that they were too late when they saw the police surrounding the destroyed knowledge center with smoke coming from various holes. Looking around, Xavier tried to see if there was anything else going on the scene before them.

"_But nothing! None of the police is chasing anybody, which means they haven't seen the real criminal either. If we can't find the guy soon, then anymore explosions are going to be pinned on Ms. Blake!"_

"Miss Blake, let's hurry and look for clues. Since you're the most agile among us, try to go inside the building and scout for any evidence. I'll do a scan here and see if I can find something before the police investigates the surrounding area."

Blake nodded her head and seemingly disappeared into the shadows next to her. Xavier almost missed the shadowy Faunus as he saw several blurs make its way towards the building. Feeling strange from the sight, Xavier jumped down the roof and grabbed onto the ledge of another building.

"_Ha, I wonder if this is what it feels like when people see me move at super speed. Anyways, back to the task at hand. Where can I scan to find more clues?"_

Before Xavier slid his fingers over his eyes, he saw a person with a red patch of hair on his shaven head walk down the streets ahead. Relieved to know that it wasn't a cop, he kicked from the wall and landed in front of the person.

Looking up, Xavier saw that the person was probably not that much younger than him. The young boy looked up without being fazed by Xavier's sudden entrance as he slid a hand over the wall next to him.

"Hello hello, it's nice to see that you're safe from the recent explosion. Mind if I take a minute of your time?"

When he saw the person nod, Xavier smiled as he took note of the newcomer's brown baggy pants and red shirt. Over the shirt, the person wore a heavy black jacket that had silver metal bands on the line of the shoulders.

"Well, before I begin, let's make this a little comfortable cause all of these explosions are probably making us nervous. First off, I am Xavier Excelsior, a guy looking into the recent explosions. Mind if I know your name as well good sir?"

"Arty," said a mechanical voice that came from the small circular microphone tied around his neck. Taking note of the device, Xavier asked, "Have you seen anything suspicious? You know, something that can maybe help me in my investigation of the criminal?"

Nodding his head, Arty started to make hand signals in the air. Recognizing the form of communication, Xavier said, "Oh, so you want to communicate by motion language? Well here, let me try."

Xavier made several signs in the air for several seconds. When he finished what he wanted to say, Ardent read it as "Can you tell me anything about the poop that threw the building's nut crackers with his sneeze?"

"Motion language…suck. Sigh…explosion….blow…idiot."

As Ardent walked past the mercenary and disappear down the street, Xavier stood still, flabbergasted by what he just heard.

"_He tells me I suck at motion language and something that I already know? Wow, he's even more annoying than I thought of him to be."_

Sighing from his thoughts, Xavier turned around and scanned the walls and streets with his eyes after he slid his fingers over them. By the time he was done scanning, Xavier jumped back up to the top of the building again. When he got to the roof, he slid what was on his fingers over his eyes just as Blake reappeared near his location.

"There was nothing in there, but you were right about one thing. Books, data, even Dust materials were left alone except for the ones that were red. It kind of makes me think that there isn't really much of a reason to make all these explosions, unless he doesn't have an aim at all."

After Xavier listened to Blake with his eyes closed, he opened them as he took out a scroll from the inside of his cloak. After swiping his fingers on the screen and pressing several buttons, Xavier smiled at whatever he was staring at.

"Alright, I think I have it. And this time, we will actually be one step ahead of our runner."

* * *

"Mayor, I have told you this before and I will say it again. You will not wear those clothes under any circumstances. And I don't care if they'll help you in combat; you need to keep a conservative appearance while you maintain your post as the mayor."

Bridgette was wincing as she heard Orca aim her strict voice at her. They have just discussed about her wearing the clothes she bought and…well, the conversation right now proved that she wasn't going to where them soon, even if Orca had approved of them earlier.

"Well, will it be better if we save them for Beacon? She should have a change of style since battle is pretty frequent over there."

Hearing Kaley's suggestion seemed to make sense for Orca. After all, the Burnian gave the most input because she and Bridgette didn't know much about what clothes were suitable for combat.

"Yes, yes, you can wear it after we get to Beacon. I still doubt it's going to impress Xavier in any way."

Knowing that Bridgette would be saddened by Orca's words, Kaley quickly interjected with, "So Bridgette, are you sure it's this way? This doesn't seem to be anywhere near the place that Xavier and I were looking into."

Excited to hear this, Bridgette quickly answered, "Yes, the criminal has only blown up the buildings that had a specific amount of materials in them. In these reports, Xavier and I have noted that a trail has been forming towards one part of the city."

"Oh, was that the late night study session that you both had together? The one where you couldn't stay awake past your bedtime and Xavier ended up finishing the work up till dawn?"

Bridgette whipped her head towards Orca with a flushed face, embarrassed to hear about her past screw-up. Orca simply grinned as she said, "Apologies Mayor, I still can't get over that. Please, continue your explanation."

Trying to recover from her friend's teasing, Bridgette said, "So, after…after we made our trip to the office, I compared the other notes I made of the locations where the recent explosions have taken place at. From there, I see that…"

* * *

"…the dastardly criminal does have an objective in mind, which is why we need to head to his next target right now," said Xavier as he and Blake were walking towards their location.

Going through his scroll, Xavier made sure that they were heading in the right direction with the map on the screen.

"With my awesome ability of deduction, I took a quick look on my scroll here and saw that the attacks have been converging onto one point. It's strange, because it leads us up to Chapter 5, the same place where a bunch of other mooks tried to rob just a few weeks ago. Coincidence? Destiny would be laughing if I were to ever think so."

Blake took a glance at Xavier's scroll as she asked, "Okay, so we have another location, but we still don't know where he's going to exactly strike, do we? I mean, that's how he eluded us the last time."

"Not eluded, he stole the stuff before anybody got there."

The sudden news made Blake raise an eyebrow at this as Xavier put away his scroll.

"Isn't it strange how none of the police were chasing after someone when we got there? There's no way he could have stolen the stuff you told me about in the short amount of time, so I have a feeling that the explosion may have been more of a distraction."

As Blake thought back on the scene, she realized that Xavier was right. However, this plus everything they've figured out so far didn't make sense with her previous question.

"I don't think we're dealing with an impulsive thief any more. If he's going this far to prevent us from finding him, then he has to have something big planned."

Xavier couldn't agree more with Blake as he had the same thought in mind. Nodding his head, Xavier led Blake towards a corner that they needed to turn at to reach their destination.

"Ah, and now we have arrived. From here we shall…"

* * *

"…be waiting until the criminal makes his move. Even if it's a guess, I would rather do something than stay at the office all day again. So for now, let's see if there's something enjoyable to do at this bookstore."

Xavier, Blake, and the detective squad turned around their respective corners and saw each other standing near the entrance to the bookstore. While the detective squad stared at Blake and Xavier in shock, Blake stared back, feeling uncomfortable from the reaction they were giving them.

Xavier, however, was ecstatic to see them and was even happier to give the introduction earlier than anticipated.

"Hello, ladies. This here is Miss Blake Belladonna. Miss Blake, these were the ladies that I've been telling you about. Um, is there a reason why all of you are silent?"

* * *

"So you just arrived today? There has never been another time when you have been here before?"

Inside the bookstore, Blake was hanging around with Bridgette and a suspicious Orca, who has been drilling Blake with questions ever since they came in.

So far, Blake was able to maintain her streak of answering in a calm manner. This continued as she replied, "No, this is really my first time. Although it hasn't been the best experience, Xavier has been kind enough to show me around and point out some good parts of the city."

"Alright, so can you explain why you had to run from the police? Xavier may have covered it, but…he's not reliable when women are involved, for the better or worse."

Before Blake could answer again, Bridgette intervened, telling Orca, "Please, that should be enough questions for today. A friend of Xavier's is a friend of ours, so let's treat her like one, alright?"

Orca let out a frustrated sigh as she became silent. Bridgette then turned to see Blake relax as the strict interrogation was apparently over.

"So, are there any books that you want to see here? Xavier has mentioned that you're an avid reader, and as a fellow enthusiast, I would love to hear your preferences."

Looking at the bookshelf next to her, Blake replied, "Well, I was looking for the sequel to how Dr. Hyde now has to deal with multiple personalities after he defeated his evil half. Have you heard of that one? "

Smiling widely, Bridgette answered, "Yes! Oh, yes, I love that book! People say it's a terrible sequel, but the multiple personalities really display the other aspects of human nature well! Lust has been a favorite of mine when…"

While Bridgette and Blake discussed about the book with Orca silently watching them, Xavier and Kaley were nearby looking at a picture on Kaley's scroll.

"Huh, yeah I agree. These clothes can definitely help her when she's fighting, at least better than the robes that she has on right now. Didn't you say that she almost got killed because she kept tripping on it?"

Kaley silently nodded her head as she put the scroll back inside her suit jacket. Satisfied to know that another person had the same opinion as her, Kaley turned to check out the bookshelf behind her.

"So, how is Blake? Do you like her? Huh? Huh? Do you like her even a tiny bit," asked Xavier as he lightly jumped up and down like a child asking a mother for candy.

Kaley rolled her eyes as she turned back around, knowing that Xavier was asking because she actually had a brief discussion with the Faunus when they entered the bookstore. Kaley saw that Xavier wasn't going to stop asking, so she replied, "Yes Xavier, she sounds very polite, although a bit edgy from time to time. I can't blame her after you told us about her situation. I'm just surprised that you didn't scare her off the moment you met her."

Xavier let out a sheepish smile as he thought back on his first encounter with Blake. Not willing to tell Kaley about that part of his day, he instead asked, "What's this detective squad that I keep hearing about from Bridgette? Is it the name of a bunch of other people she hired to look into the case with us?"

Despite her embarrassment, Kaley managed to reply, "That's the name that Bridgette gave to our group. I kind of wish she didn't; she and Orca got into an argument about it when she formed it. Oh, and it sounds incredibly immature for our group."

Xavier grinned as he closed his eyes and fondly remembered where he heard the name from.

"That sounds really cheesy, but it's catchy. Yeah, she might have gotten it from one of my favorite mystery novels, 'Faunus from the Alleyways,' a classic involving a group of Faunus solving cases for the betterment of mankind."

Kaley face-palmed as she heard how Bridgette got the name, which made it even more embarrassing for her. As Kaley slightly bent her body down, Xavier noticed the pile bunker attached to the Burnian's backside.

"And I see that my package has arrived. Enjoying my new present, Kaley?"

Raising and turning her head over her shoulder, she replied, "More or less, it's at least ideal for me. It will give me an edge if I ever fight something that is tougher than what I can cut with these wrist blades."

Although he was happy to hear Kaley's approval, Xavier didn't smile as wide since he remembered Kaley's early thoughts about her birthday.

"So why do you hate your birthday so much? Can you tell me about it or is that also something not up for discussion?"

The sudden question made Kaley reluctant to tell him, and it's not because she meant for it to be a secret. However, Xavier has been her best companion so far and didn't really retort on anything she's talked to him about. What could be the harm of sharing this as well?

"Do you really want to know? I kind of wish I knew as well because I kind of forgot the reason. It sounds silly, but even if I forgot the reason, I can't ignore this terrible feeling I get when I know that today is the day I was born."

Xavier noticed that Kaley's expression became sad, which is something that Xavier has only seen back when she first rejected his offer to become his partner. Now concerned, Xavier tried to say something, but he heard someone shout, "That's her! She's the one who ran away from those cops! See?! Her face is the same as the one on the monitor!"

Xavier and Kaley turned to see several people gather near Blake, who was buying a book at the cash register. Behind her on the ceiling was a monitor that showed a clip of her running away from the group of officers that chased her today.

Xavier felt his face pale as he thought, "_Oh crap, I forgot to jam the signal to the communications center. And- oh great, now the guy behind her is going to take out a gun."_

True to his thoughts, Xavier saw the cashier reach down to get a gun from under the table. Before Xavier could intervene, he saw Blake take a step back and raise her own gun just as the cashier had his barely over the table.

While the sight made everybody panic, several police officers entered the bookstore and aimed the guns at the unfortunate Faunus.

"Put your weapons down and step away from the cash register miss. If you come quietly, we'll make sure that you at least have the right to speak when we put you in a jail cell."

As the cops spread out into the bookstore to surround Blake, Xavier appeared in a burst of blue light and had his own guns trained at the police officers. With fingers held over the triggers, Xavier growled, "All of you guys should lay down your own weapons and try to listen this time. The last bunch was very rude to the madam behind me."

Panicking from the sight of Xavier's weapons aimed at ready, one of the officers spotted Bridgette walking up to them and exclaimed, "Mayor, tell your Enforcer to stand down! He's helping the one who's been blowing up the city!"

Shaking her head, Bridgette said, "That's not true! She's not the one who's been doing it! Enforcer Xavier has told me that she's innocent and I want to vouch for his judgment!"

Someone from the crowd of people shouted, "Who cares about the guy's opinion. She's been running from the police all day, so it's got to be her."

Another person shouted, "We're tired of all these explosions! Just the other day, my mother was sent to the hospital in a coma because of an explosion and I'm sure that she wasn't the last victim. Just take her in already!"

As Bridgette felt pressured by more of the crowd's shouting, she heard one voice yell, "Why are we even asking her? All she did was waste her time at the office when she could have done a better job keeping us safe!"

Orca and Kaley also heard this and knew it wasn't true because Bridgette has been directing the rescue and relief efforts for many restless days. Before they could step up for the bullied mayor, Bridgette turned to Xavier with pleading eyes.

"Xavier, maybe we should have her go with the police for a while. She'll just be detained while we both look for the criminal together and be released as we're finished. Please? Let's…let's make this easy for all of us."

Blake couldn't believe what she just heard. Bridgette, a friendly person who enjoyed books as much as her, was selling her out just to appease the people around her, even if she knew that the Faunus was innocent. Looking over at Orca and Kaley, she saw they were frozen on the spot, seemingly unsure of whose side should be taken in this situation.

"_I…I can't believe it. I thought she was better than that. At least when I left Adam, I…I did it to leave the life of crime behind. If she could do this to me…Xavier, what are you going to do?"_

Meanwhile, Xavier took a step back as he noticed that all eyes were on him to make the next move. Xavier could also see from the corner of his eye that Blake had a finger over her gun's trigger.

Sighing, Xavier thought, _"Well, I understand Bridgette; it's not easy feeling this pressured, huh? Now I have to make a choice between two ladies. Wow, it really does suck when a protagonist is in this kind of situation."_

With his decision made, Xavier slowly turned towards Blake and aimed his gun at the surprised Faunus. Blake turned her gun at him half a second later, getting ready to fight her way to freedom.

Blake's hand was shaking at this point as her mind loudly yelled, _"Not you too! You know that I'm innocent! Please, I don't want to be captured like this! I don't…I don't want them to know what's under this bow and get imprisoned in a cage."_

Suddenly, Xavier looked over his shoulder and said, "Sorry Bridgette, but you're not the one who's in trouble here."

Xavier let go of his gun and had the barrel aiming down with gravity pulling the trigger down on Xavier's finger. When a bullet burst out and hit the ground, a large gust tore into the room and made the entire scene distraught from the rushing wind and flying objects. Xavier and Blake used this chance to run out of the store, leaving behind everyone who was in the bookstore.

Finally away from their tense dilemma, Blake looked over at Xavier as her mind replayed the earlier scene.

"_So he was trying to help me again. I'm relieved that he's still on my side, but now…"_

As they ran, Blake turned to Xavier and asked, "Are you sure about this? Making this decision means that you're also considered an enemy to these people now."

Xavier turned and tried to maintain his smile, despite feeling sad from having to make his decision.

"It'll be alright. Once you and I find the criminal, then I'll be able to go back to them again. Let's get moving; this kind of tension doesn't really add much joy in this adventure."

Nodding her head, Blake followed Xavier as he turned to go down a different street.

* * *

Several minutes later, Xavier and Blake were seen jumping from rooftop to rooftop after they decided that the streets weren't safe for them anymore. During their run, Xavier said, "Blake, there were two things that I didn't mention in my previous explanations. You'll need to hear this as we look for the criminal."

Uncomfortable from Xavier's unwillingness to tell her earlier, Blake remained silent as she was ready to listen to what Xavier had to say.

"The real perpetrator is a hacker. I noticed it when I tried to access the doors at several of the knowledge centers. I would know because I would recognize the work of a fellow hacker."

Despite feeling amused by the thought, Xavier's face remained unnaturally serious as he flew over a large space to another building.

"The second thing that I didn't mention is that the place we're going to is the last area that doesn't have any traces of the red Aura that I saw. Every day, I saw these traces marked on the buildings that were caught in the explosion."

Jumping down to a smaller building, Blake asked, "Does the detective squad know that we're headed over there? If they are, then we should find a way to avoid them if they're going to try and capture us."

Xavier almost laughed when he heard Blake use the childish name given by Bridgette. Well, he almost did, but even now he still focused on getting to his destination.

"I didn't make a note of this in the reports because I was planning to handle this myself without letting them get hurt. So no, we won't be seeing them anytime soon."

Shooting a glance back at Blake, Xavier finished with, "I wouldn't want you here as well, but the situation right now can't help it. I'm really sorry for this; let's just nab the guy and prove your innocence already."

Blake understood that Xavier meant that he didn't want a woman to be involved. After spending so much time with the gunslinger, she couldn't expect him to say anything that would demean her, even if it jabbed a bit at her pride as a warrior.

Xavier eventually led the way to the ground and both travelers found themselves in the middle of a roadway with two rows of buildings at each side. Xavier spotted someone dragging a metal cube with a piece of rope and smiled as he recognized the figure.

"Hey Arty, nice to see you here. What brings you to this part of the city?"

Arty turned his red shaven head to look at Xavier with his brown eyes that grew in size, as if he wasn't expecting Xavier's arrival.

"Xavier…why here? Companion…criminal?"

Placing a hand to itch the top of his head, Xavier said, "Well, we're both more misunderstood than guilty. All we're trying to do right now is find the criminal to clear our names. You know, the one I was asking you about earlier."

Blake grew slightly impatient as she saw that Xavier stopped to make small talk with a stranger. Placing a hand on his shoulder, Blake said, "Xavier, come on. We need to keep moving or we're going to lose him."

Xavier's blue eyes looked at Blake and gave an eerie smile that didn't look right in Blake's viewpoint. Suddenly, she noticed that the situation right now felt a little tenser than it did just a minute ago.

"But Blake, we are here. This is the last part of town that isn't covered in the red Aura; the whole place is filled with empty houses. Nobody else is around to bear witness to any other crime that can take place here."

Blake felt a shiver as she realized what Xavier meant and looked back at the person trying to walk away in a hurried manner.

Xavier also turned to look at Arty and said, "Why are you walking away Arty? Well, I guess Ardent Dynamite is your real name. You may be a C-list celebrity, but you're still on some black list out there for committing notorious crimes, am I right?"

Arty remained silent as he turned around, eyes now glaring at his two pursuers. Xavier and Blake knew then that they have found the root of the town's current crisis. All they had to do now was now proceed to capture the real criminal.

"Sad, you're a new generation of terrorism, aren't you? Bombing Faunus support groups, aiding in prison breakouts, and I think you and I almost traded blows at some point back when I had to stop a broken dam from flooding that village."

Arty, now Ardent, dropped the rope he was holding as he turned to face his pursuers. Cracking his knuckles, Ardent said, "Correct…woman…escape… inconvenient…cops…weak."

The statement made Blake angry as she said, "That was you?! You were the one who sent them after me?"

"Good…distraction. Accusations…successful. Scapegoat…necessary."

Xavier tried to calm down as he was also getting angry to hear that Ardent was the source for Blake's suffering. With a calm voice, Xavier asked, "Before we begin beating the ever-living tar out of you, mind explaining your objective here?"

"Job… steal material…any means necessary," replied Ardent as he slowly took a step back.

"Okay, it looks like you do work for that group. Now another question and you better have a good answer."

Xavier slowly reached for his guns as one of Ardent's foot slid behind the cube.

"In the past few days, you've made a lot of casualties with the explosions you've made. It's unnecessary to cause so many deaths, so why did you do it?! Why did you have to get innocent lives involved with your methods?!"

Xavier's rising voice didn't seem to faze Ardent. Instead, the bomber's mouth slowly curved into a grin as his neck shook, indicating that was trying to keep down a chuckle.

"Make big boom. I watch… huge explosions. Wonderful lights…over entire city...people scream… worth it."

Ardent's answer made Xavier's patience reach beyond their limits, prompting him to shoot both of his guns at the bomber. Ardent hid behind the body-sized cube that blocked the incoming shots and tapped his hand against the metal surface. Slowly, the cube started to unfold and let out a red light that shined through the open cracks.

Unwilling to wait to see what it can turn into, Blake dashed forward towards where Ardent was at with her blade out and ready to slice.

"**Ignite.**"

A red light shined on the ground in front of Blake and started to unleash a burst of energy. Blake tried to stop her advance, but it was too late. A large explosion lit up in front of her and encased the Faunus with its energy.

Although Blake raised her arms and braced for the incoming pain, she never felt anything like that slam into her body. Opening her closed eyes, she saw Xavier give her a concerned look as a great shadow covered both of their bodies.

"Are you alright?"

Blake saw that Xavier had his black cloak spread out in front of him. When she nodded her head, Xavier sighed and pulled down his cloak to confront his enemy again.

However, in the place of Ardent stood a twelve-foot, humanoid robot covered in red metal. With a round body and cylindrical head, the robot's four eyes let out a deep red glow as it placed its handless arms beside its body.

From the speaker around the robot's neck, Ardent's voice came out of it saying, "Engage… Build-A-Bomber."

Giving the robot another look, Xavier exclaimed, "Oh, so that explains why he took the red materials. Well, if you look at it again, it kind of looks like a kid put it together too."

Now looking down at Blake and Xavier, the huge robot revealed two cannons that popped out of the holes at the end of its arms. Two more cannons flipped over its shoulders and the robot smashed its hand cannons against each other, ready to take on the two warriors.

Placing Dante and Vergil at each of his side, Xavier said, "It's time we settled this. Will you see this through with me, Miss Blake? I won't take offense if I am to do this alone."

With Gambol Shroud at ready and standing beside Xavier, Blake replied, "Of course I'll fight; we can't let him hurt anymore people like this for his sick entertainment. I'll fight him for my freedom and as my duty as a Huntress!"

Xavier smiled as he heard this and thought, _"Wow, that sounds way nobler than anything I could think of right now. And to have the honor of fighting beside someone like her; adventures are truly romantic in times like these."_

Forming his rifle, Xavier said, "Then allow me to go first," as his weapon started to glow in his blue Aura. Right as the robot readied its cannons, Xavier let out a shot that exploded at the robot's helmeted head.

The robot didn't seem to be fazed by the shot as it ran forward and tried to barrel through the two warriors. Xavier and Blake ran out if its path and fired a barrage of bullets at the passing robot. The bullets merely bounced off of the robot's armor as it turned around and aimed its cannons.

"**Boom.**"

As redenergy shells shot out from the arm cannons, the shoulder cannons unleashed two missiles that flew towards both Xavier and Blake. Dodging the cannon fire, both Xavier and Blake fired at the incoming missiles that exploded after several of their shots reached the ordinances.

"**Boom, boom, boom!"**

Again, the robot charged as it continued to fire a relentless amount of ordinances at its targets. Blake and Xavier jumped from the walls and dashed across the ground to dodge and come closer to the robot. Blake slashed all around the body while Xavier landed and rapidly fired three shotgun blasts on the head.

None of their attacks did any damage, but it seemed to anger the driver as the robot furiously rotated its arms around in a huge circle. Xavier and Blake jumped back from this wild attack and retreated as more ordinances were fired from the robot.

Xavier let out multiple shots from his guns at the rockets while Blake used an opening to dash forward and make a furious assault against the robot, reappearing at one spot only to disappear again with an after-image. However, Blake's multiple slashes still couldn't do anything, even as she literally hit everywhere that could have left a normal robot in shambles.

Through the robot's speakers, Ardent said in his robotic voice, "Annoying pest…**Ignite**." Soon, multiple flashes appeared on the ground and walls and exploded near Xavier and Blake. While Blake jumped up and grabbed a ledge onto a building, Xavier's body was hit by the brunt of the explosions and sent flying away.

Having enough of this, Xavier slid his fingers over his eyes to take the contacts off right as he saw a charging Blake get slammed away by the robot's body.

"_Over there, there…okay, it's clear. He might be a builder, but he's a sloppy one at that."_

"Blake, His left shoulder and right knee! Strike them down and his entire body will follow," shouted Xavier as he formed his rifle again.

Nodding her head, Blake shot a sickle from her gun and had it latch onto the robot's neck. Blake used her blade's attachment to anchor her body as she jumped off of the wall behind her. Pulling back her sickle, Blake rushed forward with an after-image as her body flew over the robot.

Now close to the armor, Blake unleashed an onslaught of attacks from her katana and cleaver at the left shoulder. Planting a foot onto the ripped shoulder, Blake leaped high into the air and gracefully spun out of the way as more explosions were shot from the robot's raised arm. Blake shot her sickle out in front of her and spun forward, making the blade spin in tandem with her movements and land heavy strikes onto the robot's shoulder again.

The robot's left shoulder ripped apart from the strikes as Blake hooked her blade around its other arm and dashed towards the right knee. The robot tried to stop her, but Xavier's multiple Aura shots flying at its face and arms made it flinch to where it couldn't move.

When Blake was close, she placed her gun handle at the back of the knee and pulled her trigger as many times as she can. The right knee grew holes from the shots until it shredded apart from the attack.

The robot collapsed as she did this, making it unable to properly move as Blake continued to strike at every part of the armor. Pieces of it fell to the floor, and the robot's body started to shake from the lacking support.

"Move…off…woman!"

Ardent let out a yell as a red light appeared beneath the robot. Blake tried to steer clear of the blast, but it was too late as the explosion that followed blew her body backwards.

Although she wasn't wounded, the blast knocked her head into a daze, leaving her motionless on the ruined ground. The robot managed to get up on its one knee as it trained two of its cannons right at Blake.

"Die."

Xavier suddenly appeared between the two in a flash of his blue Aura with both guns trained at the robot. Pulling the triggers, Xavier watched as two red-yellow Dust bullets shot out into the cannons. The cannons went off right as the bullets went in and a mix of red, and yellow lights appeared inside it.

"**Boom."**

Two loud explosions went off, leaving behind a smoke covered with small traces of fire and lightning. As the smoke cleared, Ardent's robot appeared with both of its hand cannons blown off from the blast.

"Blake, let's turn this thing into scrap!"

Blake was already ahead of him as she stood up and jumped towards the robot. While Blake let out multiple after-images followed by a storm of slashes, Xavier shot out his own fury of bullets that hit everywhere else that Blake didn't attack.

Xavier and Blake continued their relentless assault with blades and bullets flying and hitting everything. Soon, the robot's body collapsed as it was left with only everything above the shoulders intact. As Blake pointed her blade in front of the helmet, Xavier came up while he took out his scroll with the intent to force the bomber out of his cover.

"Stop…moving…I…destroy…everything!"

The head suddenly ejected from the body right as the remains of the robot started glowing. Blake and Xavier started to move out of the way as Ardent, who was flying away, shouted, **"BLAST!"**

The body let out a huge explosion that blew apart the entire area. However, Blake and Xavier managed to safely run to the top of the nearby buildings. When they were high enough, they saw the robot's helmet fly towards another part of the city.

Xavier didn't enjoy the sight as he remembered what Ardent said right before his escape.

"_If there were multiple red Aura traces all around the city... is he going to blow the entire city up?!"_

Blake seemed to have the same idea as she exclaimed, "Didn't you say that the whole entire city had traces of red Aura? I saw the same kind from his explosions; what you saw had to be the same thing!"

Watching the plume of smoke that formed from the helmet's landing, Xavier said, "You're right. We need to get after him! Let's go, while we still have time!"

"Xavier, wait!"

Confused by the sudden statement, Xavier turned around to look at Blake. He saw that Blake gave a shocked expression as she said, "Your eyes, they're bleeding."

Now feeling something wet and painful coming down one eye, Xavier placed a finger over it and moved it in sight to see that there was blood. Shrugging, Xavier replied, "Must have been something that nicked me during battle. No worries, I'll just push through the pain. We need to focus more on catching Ardent."

Blake was worried for Xavier, but he was right. Any second they waste here will allow Ardent to make another step towards the city. Despite knowing this, Blake reached into her backpack behind her and took out an extra napkin that she took from the restaurant.

"Then here, wipe the blood away from your eyes. And don't decline the offer, this is the least I could do for you after everything you've done for me."

Xavier smiled as he saw the Faunus express some concern for his well-being. After he took the napkin, both warriors disappeared as they went off to chase after the bomber on the loose.

* * *

Ardent kicked off his robot's faceplate as he tried to scurry out of his escape vehicle. Once he got out, he ran as he knew that the two others from before were going to come after him. However, he was close to several of his Aura bombs, which was all he needed to start his planned destruction of the Librarium.

This idea made Ardent smile as he was happy to know that he can finally set off his set-ups. And everything was going to disappear in his eyes, just as he did many times before.

"_That's right, every disgusting homo-sapien is going to disappear_. _The ignorant people are going to vanish, along with everything else that gets showered by the light._"

"**Explosion"**

Ardent felt his smile grow wider as he saw his Aura shine from the top of several buildings. Several minutes later, the buildings exploded and started to rain huge pieces of debris onto the streets below it.

* * *

Bridgette slightly shivered as she heard Blake tell her part of the story. Kaley and Orca understood as they knew that the next part wasn't going to be a delight to hear according to their memories. However, all of them were willing to finish this, which is why they looked to Blake to continue.

Blake noticed this and shrugged her shoulders as she said, "Xavier should be the one to tell this part of the story since he was the one who chased after Ardent in the end. I had to go help Bridgette before she blew up."

Hearing this made Orca feel relieved because she didn't really enjoy the trip down the memory lane. Looking at a nearby clock, she said, "Well, then that's it. We should turn in soon before it gets late. We all have an initiation to pass tomorrow, so good night to all of you."

Before Orca could turn away, Blake said, "There was one part that I would like to talk about." Turning to Bridgette, Blake asked, "What was it about your feelings for Xavier again?"

Bridgette's face reddened as she realized that she forgot to omit that part of the story earlier. Trying to keep calm, Bridgette was about to say an excuse when a familiar interruption flew at them like a missile.

"Incoming!"

Xavier flew over the group and managed to roll into a crouching position on the ground. He instantly stood up and raised his hands into the air like an accomplished athlete.

"Sorry, a lovely professor was just chasing after me, and I think I managed to elude the mature beauty. Ouch, her weapon sure likes to cause some bruises."

Xavier noticed that everybody around him was giving him a strange look. Looking down at his clothes, Xavier thought they were uncomfortable by his dirty appearance. Snapping his fingers, Xavier said, "I'm terribly sorry about that. Freedom, do your thing."

Suddenly, the cloak around him covered Xavier in his entirety, making ruffling noises as it kept spinning around. Several seconds later, the cloak landed to his side as he came out wearing his night attire of a dark blue smock, purple cotton pants, and a pair of red slippers.

"Ah, there we go. It's more comforting to see me like this, no?"

While Orca and Kaley felt relieved to see Xavier, Bridgette was more ecstatic as she finally saw him after looking for him all day. She was about to call his name…

"Blake, is that you?! I thought I've seen you somewhere, and here you are! Wow, how are you doing?!"

…only to frown as she saw the gunslinger turn his attention to Blake.

As Blake waved her own hand with a small smile, Kaley felt her anger boil from many implications that came with Xavier's arrival. Bridgette's frowning was one of those reasons.

Reaching up and pulling on Xavier's ear, Kaley said, "Hey, Xavier! Is that something you should say after after we tried to look for you nearly all day?! How about you say hello to the rest of us?!"

Xavier tried to move with the pulling hand as he felt his ear nearly rip off from the Burnian's strong grip. When the grip was finally released, Xavier used one hand to rub the pain in his ear.

"S-sorry about that; you're right. Hello again to all my friends and I am especially glad that the detective squad is all here now .What would prompt all of you to gather like this before your beauty sleep?"

Everybody took a moment to explain Xavier what was going on. During their explanation, Xavier's lips slowly curved upwards until a smile came in its full form.

"A story time?! Oh wow, if you need a satisfying conclusion to this end, then allow us to provide it with all of your assistance."

As Xavier took a seat next to Blake, only Orca and Kaley seemed to notice Bridgette grip her sleeping bag's sheet. Kaley felt her patience thin from Xavier's blunt action while Orca sighed as she knew that something bad was going to happen.

"Okay, so we were chasing after Ardent…well, there was the big chase, explosions, and some other things. Hm, I might need a second to think about this; he really placed us in a lot of dilemmas."

* * *

A/N:

To make this clear, I don't intend on making Blake seem incapable of making the deductions Xavier and Bridgette made in this chapter. She might have been able to do it if she had the same resources and knew the city as well as they did.

I have some new characters that will appear in this series and eventually work up to becoming a character in the AD series, which is why I also decided to do a profile on them.

Ardent Dynamite

**Definition**: Ardent (Passion) Dynamite (yeah, it's the exploding 'red' stick)

**Description**: Ardent has a red messy buzz cut that shows he has no intent on looking formal. He wears brown baggy pants for carrying items and a blue jacket with metal stripes on the shoulders. He also wears a red shirt that has his logo on it. His eyes are brown, skin has a fair complexion, and height is around 5'5'' tall.

**Aura**: Red

**Logo**: A hand grasping a red time bomb.

Likes: Explosions, the color red, and building objects.

Dislikes: Using his broken voice and people, especially those he classify as idiots.

**Weapons**: Explosives, anything he touches, and morph cubes (cubes that can store a limited number of items inside it).

**Semblance**: Dynamorph - able to make anything the user touches into explosives that can be activated at any time. Also allows the user to tamper with the aspect of explosions, like the timing and size of area that it affects.

**Skills**: Builder, Tactician


End file.
